APPLICATION OF THE HOOVER-DEMPSEY AND SANDLER MODEL OF PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN EDUCATION FOR PARENTS WHO HAVE CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

The current study applied Level 1 (parents’ basic involvement decision) and Level 2 (parents’ choice of involvement forms) of the K.V. Hoover-Dempsey and H.M. Sandler model of the parent involvement process (1995) to explore the academic achievement of children with special needs when parents are involved in their education. The author paid particular attention to the contribution of special education service receipt, specific involvement activities, demographics, and parent characteristics on a child’s academic achievement. A secondary data analysis of a nationally representative sample of 1,839 parents who had children with a special education diagnosis shows that academic achievement is significantly related to a child’s gender, grade level, and the amount of special education services received. In addition, a parent respondent’s relationship to a child and the parent’s knowledge of how to help the child significantly affected academic achievement. Implications of the findings for practice and intervention are discussed.